


The Beast In Me

by DoctorBane



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Apocalypse fic, Brian Banner's A+ Parenting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-27 02:02:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15014237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorBane/pseuds/DoctorBane
Summary: I suppose the Devil within me was born around the same time as the Hulk. My childhood.





	The Beast In Me

I suppose the Devil within me was born around the same time as the Hulk. My childhood. 

My father, Brian, was not a good father. He beat me and my mother when she tried to defend me. There is nothing quite as terrifying as the man who was supposed to care for you beating you while screaming at you and calling you a freak. At least, not to me. 

Having to deal with that for years left it's mark. I would often repress my emotions. Even now, I don't let my emotions out. Admittedly, I do have a good reason for that...

Eventually, my father killed my mother. I remember, we were trying to escape him. He caught us at the car. We thought he was going to be passed out for longer - evidently, the fates were not smiling down on us that day. My mother screamed at me to run, but I refused. I couldn't just leave her. He kicked me away, then punched my mother in the solar plexus. As she doubled over, he brought his knee into her face. As she collapsed, he stamped on her head. I knew she was gone, but he didn't stop. Eventually, there was just this mess on the ground - brains, blood, bone. 

When the case went to court, my father bullied me into lying on the stand. He told me that if I betrayed him, I would go straight to Hell where all the boys who disobeyed their parents would burn forever. It didn't dawn on me the ridiculousness of a murderer telling me that.  
So I lied. I said my father was never abusive, and that my mother had had a mental breakdown which was what prompted her to try to leave. And he got off. The man who had tortured myself and my mother for years before murdering her got off. The man who claimed to love her, and who maybe once had. I got the bastard off, because he was my father and after all, it was my fault he didn't love me. It had to be. He'd never wanted children, and yet I had come along and ruined his life, his relationship with my mother. As far as I was concerned, I'd killed her by existing.

The only reason the old man was caught was because he celebrated by going to a bar and getting drunk, whereupon he boasted about how he'd gotten away with murder. All by bullying an emotionally repressed twelve year old. As you might expect, he was quickly imprisoned. 

Years later, he rang me up. He wanted to see me one last time before he died of liver failure. I hung up. Never did see him, and a week later someone from the prison rang me to let me know he'd died. 

Because of him, I am three people. One is a scientist who lives in Stark Tower, hoping to improve the world in some meaningful way. The second is, well... the other guy.

The third is worse.

The third laughs within my mind whenever I hear stories of war, and famine, and disease. The third approves when I have flashes of the Hulk's battles. The third hungers for bloodshed, and release. 

The third has killed the Hulk. 

When I go to sleep at night, I find myself in a ravaged cavern. I know I am within my mind. The ground is made of rock, and in the center of the rock is an enormous figure. The figure is wrapped in chains, but they are rusting. The figure strains at them, and they clatter as he thrashes. 

Despite his captivity, he laughs.

"Why do you bother to restrain me Bruce?" the Devil asks me. "You know you can't hold me forever." A chain link snaps, and his reptilian face twists into a grin, red eyes gleaming. "Besides, the Hulk is already dead." With this, he gestures towards a large skeleton. 

"I know what you'll do if you ever emerge. I can't let you kill a planet," I say, grimacing as another chain slips off him.

"The world never cared for us, Bruce. It only wants to torment and hurt you," the Devil replies.

"If you cared, you wouldn't have killed the Hulk," I say. It feels odd, knowing that what I wanted for years has now come to pass - the Hulk is no more.

"Don't you realise Bruce? I am the Hulk. I always was, the pathetic shell you turned into was nothing more than a frightened child, lashing out at those who might hurt him while also helping the weak." He spits this out in contempt. "He even cared for Betty, the worthless ant."

I flush with rage. "Don't talk about Betty", I say, feeling the anger build.

More of his chains fall off. 

"That's right Bruce, let the rage out. Let your rage, and hate out, and LET ME OUT!" The Devil, strengthened by my rage, snaps the last of the chains.

"Don't worry Bruce," he says just before I awaken. "I'll make sure Betty dies last."

I'm lying in my bed, covered in sweat. I can feel the change coming. I try to fight it, but where the Hulk was somewhat cooperative when he wanted to be, the Devil is not. I feel the change coming, and I see my skin changing, growing reptilian. I look in the bedside mirror, and my face is changing shape. My eyes are a burning red, and I have many many teeth. I feel anger, and hatred, and bloodlust overwhelm my mind as I grow in size. I smash through the ceiling as alarms ring, and I can hear an awful growling laughter, and then I realise that I'm laughing, I'm free, and the world is dead now because no one can stop me. 

No one can stop me. 

No one can stop me.


End file.
